Politi: In the end, Rex Ryan's actions will speak louder than his words

Saed Hindash/The Star-LedgerRex Ryan, the Jets' bombastic coach, will have to rely on his sideline skills rather than his vocal prowess in the playoffs against the Colts Saturday.

The Jets are preparing for a playoff game, so about 50 reporters crammed into a small room at the team’s practice facility and waited with breathless anticipation: What would Rex Ryan say today?

Would he challenge Peyton Manning to a duel at high noon? Would he insist the Colts were better off in Baltimore? Would he predict that the Jets will win next year’s Super Bowl, too?

But this is the dirty little secret about all Ryan’s talk: It doesn’t matter one bit. It won’t make the Colts want to win this game more. It won’t put more pressure on the Jets to do the same.

His words are irrelevant. His coaching, however, is something else entirely.

That actually could impact this game. And, based on his second season on the sidelines, it’s something to worry about.

The Jets are 11-5, in the playoffs for a second straight season for only the fifth time in their history, so there’s no debating that Ryan and his staff have done a good job creating game plans and preparing this team.

But when it comes to the actual in-game coaching, the stuff that happens on the sideline for the world to see and debate, it’s impossible to give Ryan more than an average grade. And that coaching and game management was especially suspect in games against elite teams.

Rex Ryan on the upcoming Jets playoff gameNew York Jets head coach Rex Ryan talks about the upcoming playoff game against the Colts as he talks about Sanchez, Revis, and the Colts Peyton Manning. (Video by William Perlman/The Star-Ledger)

• He called for an ill-advised fake punt at the Jets 40-yard line in a 38-34 loss to Chicago. The Bears stopped Brad Smith on an incomplete pass and, on their next offensive play, Jay Cutler threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to tie the game and take all the momentum.

• He sent Nick Folk onto the field for a 53-yard field-goal attempt against the Patriots when, with wintry conditions in Foxborough and his shaky history, a 33-yarder would have been dicey. Folk missed and the Patriots used the short field to turn a 3-0 lead into 10-0, and the rout had begun.

• He wasted both of his challenges in the first half of a 9-0 loss to Green Bay, leaving Ryan with none when the referees clearly missed the call on a potential game-changing Dustin Keller fumble.

Three big games. Three big losses. Three tough days for the man wearing the headset.

There are other examples, too, when Ryan mismanaged the clock late in games and misused his timeouts. In the one-and-done playoff setting where everything is magnified, how Ryan handles these decisions could be as important to the Jets’ success as quarterback Mark Sanchez’s injured shoulder.

Ryan will face one coach, Jim Caldwell, who took the Colts to the Super Bowl last season, and potentially two more, in Bill Belichick and Mike Tomlin, who’ve already won the big game. He’ll also face a new set of overtime rules — a field goal on the first possession will no longer end the game — that could add another layer of tricky choices for the head coach.

Still, with Ryan, the focus always comes back to his words. Asked how his experience in the postseason makes him a better coach the second time around, he brought it right back to his Super Bowl talk.

“I just think what I’m selling is easier now,” Ryan said. “We did go to the AFC Championship Game that first year. I think guys might have looked at me initially and said, ‘This guy, I don’t know if I believe him or not,’ but they know I’m saying what I believe is the truth.”

His ability to motivate this team has never been in question. The players weren’t the least bit surprised by his latest proclamation that the Jets “have the best team” in the AFC. After two seasons with him, they’d probably be more surprised if he didn’t say something like that.

As for the opposing team, it isn’t like Manning is going to hear that Ryan declared this game “personal” against him, then resolve to throw six touchdown passes to exact revenge. Manning sounded downright bored when the question was raised during a teleconference Tuesday.

Ryan’s words are entertaining. They fill hours on talk radio and pages in newspapers. But nothing he says will make it harder for the Jets to win a playoff game on Saturday.

A brain lock on the sideline with the challenge flag? A miscue managing the clock late in the game? That actually might. That’s something the Jets should be concerned about.